Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has said he takes responsibility for rallying the people of the vote-rich Mt. Kenya region behind President William Ruto during the 2022 general elections.
Gachagua was impeached after a suspected fallout with Ruto, barely two years into office.
Speaking exclusively to NTV on Sunday night, the former second-in-command regretted that the region trusted the president and entered a political marriage without a political party.
“I am sorry for committing the mountain to an arrangement that came to haunt us. I think I was new to politics of such a level and never again shall we go for such a marriage,” Gachagua stated.
The authoritative administrator-turned-politician however stated that despite his impeachment, the region cannot and will never be divided for political reasons.
“Mt. Kenya can never be divided. The disunity you are seeing is at the leadership level. In 2022, I took it upon myself to unite the region,” he said.
Ruto out to divide Mt Kenya region – Gachagua
He further said that despite the region giving President Ruto 87% of the votes in the 2022 polls, he has tried to divide the region in vain.
“He tried to divide the region in terms of East and West but failed. In fact, during an event in Embu, the people of Embu celebrated Gachagua and Uhuru Kenyatta. I believe President Ruto went home with a great lesson,” Gachagua added.
In addition, the self-proclaimed truthful man said the government through security agencies had a prior intelligence report about his recent attack at a burial in Limuru.
“So far, nobody has been arrested and the perpetrators were captured in cameras. The perpetrators wanted to assassinate me,” he said.
He also condemned abductions and enforced disappearances witnessed in the country after the deadly 25 June 2024 Gen-Z protests.
“This administration cannot take dissent. We are sliding into a dictatorship and a police state. Political persecutions of the Nyayo era are back, we should never go that route because we promised Kenyans we took power that we won’t use the criminal justice system to settle political scores,” Gachagua stated.
Gachagua reveals why he was impeached
He further revealed that the main reason he was impeached was that he did not support punitive government policies and spoke the truth to President Ruto.
“I am a peoples’ person and I listen to what Kenyans say. You know I am not a yes sir man. They said I am a stubborn, erratic and a hard man who sabotaged President Ruto and that is why they chased me out of office,” he noted.
The former Mathira Member of Parliament was impeached in October 2024 when over two-thirds of the Senators upheld 5 out of 11 charges levelled against him.
He still has several cases pending in court challenging his removal from office.
